Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Disappointed By Lose of Detail

Recently, I was playing with long exposure shots on a rocky beach near where I live. One of the photos had great potential but it was dark and the darker areas had no detail in them at all. I liked the photo but it really lacked detail and it really had no vibrancy. I decide to have a play with it.

Original Photo

There was a load of detail captured in every shot that just needs to be enhanced. This is the process I used to recover the lost detail in the dark areas of this photo using a piece of software called Intensify Pro.

The Process

After opening the RAW image in Intensify Pro I adjusted the Exposure, Contrast and Shadows on layer 0 in the Basic Tune area. I lifted the shadows quite a bit at this stage.

Basic Adjustments on Layer 0

I then added a new layer and created a mask on the areas I wanted to work on in more detail.

Mask on New Layer

On this mask I've increased the Exposure, warmed it up a little with Temperature Adjustment, Increased the Vibrance and I've increased the Pro Contrast Adjustment in the Shadows.

Adjustments to the Mask Layer

I then wanted to created a bit of mood so I added a Gradient Mask to the sky area, on a new layer.

Sky Gradient

I made a few adjustments to the Exposure, Vibrance, Pro Contrast (Highlights and Mid Tones) as well as Structure (Global Midtones)

Sky Gradient Adjustments

Up until now I have been making manual adjustments but Intensify Pro has a lot of really good Presets and at this point I applied one of my favorites called Pro Quality to a new Layer. This just sharpens the image and adds a little depth.

Pro Contrast Preset

Just for fun I added another Layer with a Mask on the sky and made some adjustments to the Pro Contrast area.

Some Tweaks to the Sky

From here I exported the image to SnapHeal, which is another app/add-on to Intensify Pro to straighten up the horizon and to deal to a few hot pixels. Hot pixels can show up with long exposure shots.

This is the final result.

The Final Result

Original Photo

You can see the photo has been transformed and it only took me about 20 minutes using Intensify Pro. One of the things I really like about this software is you can adjust the opacity of each layer independently. On this photo I decided to lessen the effect on the rocks mask so I decreased the Opacity of Layer 1 to 43%.

I've pushed this image pretty hard to demonstrate my point but how much or how little adjustment you make are entirely up to you and the look you're trying to achieve.

Layer 1 Opacity

I really like Intensify Pro, it is very easy to use and it can make an enormous difference to your photos, it can be run both as a standalone app or as a plug-in for Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Lightroom, Photoshop Elements and Apple Aperture.

Saturday, 1 March 2014

My DSLR Takes Photos!

Isn't it funny, I have been so caught up in shooting video with my DSLR that I forgot it takes photos!
A
little while ago we decided to move to a small town by the sea, it's
quite remote and very wild. I've been out walking every day and I always
take my camera but I've been taking photos and shooting very little
video.

A Bruising Sky

I will be making videos around this area but for the moment I'm enjoying the photography so much, I'm just going to run with it.

Photo Editing

One
of the things I was getting really frustrated with was why my photos
looked good but not great! I knew I could frame a good shot and I knew
how to expose correctly but other peoples photos would sparkle and stand
out. I tried different software and spent hours tweeking and playing
with shots, it took a while but I started getting pretty good results.

Faded Glory

Then I Found Something

Quite
by accident I found a the piece of software that changed everything for
me, it gave me the sort of control of my photos that I didn't believe
possible.
I'm going to be exploring this software and how to use it in future posts.
So say tuned...

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About Me

I had been in the television industry, as a camera operator for 20 years before taking a break.
I now make videos because I want to and I've discovered that it's imaging I love, still and moving.
Capturing moments in time and looking at the ordinary in fresh and sometimes dramatic ways.
For me its about learning, staying fresh, pushing boundaries and having fun!